Seafood on the Camino

The north of Spain has a lot of seafood, even in the towns in the mountainous interior -- except maybe in Leon where meat is king -- and they have a lot of local names for them, so I decided to create a glossary, with photos so I'll remember.  There's a post on The 12 Essential Galician Seafood Catches by a Texan living in Santiago which should help.

Vieiras or Zamburiñas
These are scallops which are the symbol of the Camino de Santiago so we should try to find them someplace, although I know we can get them at home without any problem aside from money.  Our good friend José Andrés has a PBS Made in Spain episode on Galicia in which he begins with a recipe for zamburiñas a la gallega which are served on the shell.  Our Texan in Santiago says vieiras are larger than zamburiñas.

Pulpo con cachelos (Pulpo á Feira / Pulpo a la Gallega)
This is boiled octopus with boiled potatoes and it's hard to get a simpler dish than that.  Our Texan in Santiago recommends the Bodegón Os Concheiros as his favorite pulperia.

Too bad they don't serve it with red peppers and a salad to give it some color.  They need more chefs like my high school art teacher, Mr. Brothers, who once asked me:  "Doesn't your mother choose her dinner menu by what looks good on the plate?"  As if that was the obvious way to come up with a well-rounded meal.

Percebes
These are goose-neck barnacles that Rick Steves had to pay $16/pound for in the Santiago market.  He could have gone out to the Asturian seashore and picked his own like José Andrés did in this Made in Spain episodes on PBS which I urge you to watch because there is no chef more entertaining that José.  Or you can follow this gastronomic driving tour of the Costa da Morte, which sounds lovely.  The restaurant that they recommend eating at in Santiago de Compostela is La Bodeguilla de San Roque which seems to serve more meat than fish.  Autalia also offers a Ruta gastronomica en coche por el norte de Galicia de Coruña a Ribadeo (the northern coast) and another western coast route: Ruta gastronómica en coche por As Rias Baixas de Muros a Baiona (south of the Costa da Morte), in case we ever find ourselves in Santiago with a car.

Nécoras
These are velvet crabs which are the favorite of our Texan in Santiago.  He says if you can try just one of the 12 seafoods, try these.  He also mentions the larger spider crab, centollo, but they are more expensive.

Gamba / Camarón
These are shrimp and the Texan says they tend to be tiny and a lot of work to shell.

Cigala
These are scampi or langostinas or jumbo shrimp with garden shears for hands.

Razor Clams

Almejas / Ameixas (in Gallego)
These are clams with concentric ridges.

Berberechos
These are cockles, like clams with radial ridges.

Navajas / Navallas
And these are razor clams.

Mejillones / Mexillóns
These are mussels and are very affordable, according to the Texan.

Now you'll notice this seafood is almost all shellfish without a real fish in sight.  I guess we'll have to wait till another post for those.  In the meantime, I'm going to read the Texan's post on "What to Eat in Galicia: 10 Dishes to Try" in which he says:

"I’m gonna go out on a limb here and argue that the region of Galicia in the northwest part of Spain churns out the best food in the entire country. Give me some Galician food any day over expensive Basque pintxos, snobby Catalan cuisine, or the famine food of the central meseta."

Stay tuned!!

León Gastronomy

León did not get its name from león the lion but from the Roman Seventh Legion that set up its fortress here to protect the gold mines in Astorga in the first century AD.  Sometime we will have to go visit the nearby Las Médulas where the Romans used hydraulic mining to wash away the soil from the mountains and retrieve the gold.

Las Medulas

Despite the real derivation of its name, León still uses the lion in its coat of arms.

León is situated on a high plain, to the east of Burgos.  After León, the mountains begin again so this is not the part of the Camino that we chose to walk, although I wish we could have visited the towns of Astorga (a Roman town founded in 14 BC as Asturica Augusta), Ponferrada (from the Latin Pons Ferrata or Iron Bridge), and Villafranca del Bierzo.

Chorizo de León

León is known gastronomically for its cured meats so Fernando can't be a vegetarian here.  He won't want to be when morcilla, lengua and manitas de cerdo appear on the menu.  The Chorizo de León is spicy with red paprika and smoked over oak wood.  We'll have to remember to take some with us for lunches when we are walking.

Then there is Botillo del Bierzo, which I've already mentioned, as being the caecum of a pig stuffed with miscellaneous parts, including bones, so that is something that is not picnic food but that one has to sit down to and that is served hot.  Plus it wouldn't fit in my little 16 liter  Gregory Maya backpack.

Lengua Curada

Then there is Lengua Curada or cured tongue which can be served "loncheada" with aceite.  I'm assuming this means sliced thinly (as for "lunches") and dressed with olive oil because the tongue is not very fatty and dries out.  There is also stewed lengua on the menus or we could get a "surtida" with an assortment of cured meats, because of course we have to order some morcilla (blood sausage) for Fernando.  The restaurant La Poveda has an extensive list of animal parts in its "raciones" or tapas menu, some of which I will have to Google to discover what they actually are before we get there.  Like mollejas de lechazo, which are sweetbreads of a young lamb, chipirones (squid), ajetes (young garlic), oricios (sea urchin), necoras (small crabs), and one we'll definitely have to try: percebes or goose barnacles.

Pimientos del Bierzo

I, of course, might opt out of most of the meats so that I can concentrate on the pimientos del Bierzo -- Valle del Bierzo being west of León --  and the pimiento morrón de Fresno de la Vega, Fresno de la Vega being just south of León.  I'm afraid I'll have to settle for canned ones since May isn't exactly the season for peppers.  Maybe we should have planned the Camino for September when there are more harvest festivals.  If we stay in private hostales and pensiones and hotels we shouldn't have to worry about the end-of-the-season bedbugs.  Maybe next time!

Cocido Maragato

What other vegetable options are there in León?  In Pamplona they had a number of tapas with berenjena that were very good so I am hoping there might be a couple of eggplant tapas in León.  Alubias and other beans are popular in the region -- essentially anything that can be cooked into a hearty stew with meat.  One such stew is Cocido Maragato from Astorga which features berza (that broccoli raab type of green), garbanzos and seven to twelve meats (what did you expect?).  The meat is served first, then the garbanzos, and last the soup.  All cocidos seem to be composed of garbanzos and meat.  Then there is the Olla Berciana which appears to be the same thing from the photos, only it is what they eat in Bierza.

And I suppose there is always the Menestra de Verduras, that overcooked vegetable stew.  Did you know that you can buy the vegetables frozen in a bag so all you have to do is add water and meat?  If we had an apartment we could make our own undercooked version without the meat.

I am always on the lookout for a version that is fresh and green but I was a bit surprised to find out that in 1994 the famous Catalan chef, Ferran Adrià of elBulli, deconstructed the menestra into what you see on the left.  What do you think?  I'm afraid he has had no influence whatsoever on the Spanish cooking of the menestra.

Getting the Right Day Pack

Osprey Tempest 20

I decided to exchange the 20 liter Osprey Tempest backpack for a Gregory Maya 16 liter.  Fernando's Gregory Miwok backpack is a better size at 18 liters but mine is supposed to fit a woman better, although the Tempest was supposedly made for a woman and it rubbed on my hips, which is why I exchanged it.  That and the fact that some of the outside pockets of the Tempest are made of a lycra netting that I know will deteriorate with age, just like swimsuits, and that are not waterproof, and I know we will get rain on the Camino.  There were a few things in addition to the size that I appreciated on the Tempest.  You can adjust the size of it, making it longer or shorter depending on your size.  The zippers are covered and seem to slide more easily than those of  the Gregory, except for those side pockets on the waist belt that are hard to reach and unzip on the Tempest.  Plus I like the location of the inner zippered pocket in the larger zippered compartment on the Tempest rather than up on top in the smaller compartment on the Gregory.

Gregory Maya 16

But 16 liters isn't much and it's a tight fit for my windbreaker, long-sleeved shirt, fleece jacket and a purse.  It's surprising how much more easily they fit into Fernando's 18 liter pack since it is wider.  So now I have second thoughts about the Maya 16.  Penny has the pink version of it and she also uses it as a hydration pack but I'm not that fond of drinking out of a tube, although Lord knows I should be drinking more water.  Plus Lord also knows that I pick up more along the way than Penny does so I really need extra room for storing various oddities.  In short I am now comparing the woman's Maya 16 with the man's Miwok 18, trying to discover what the big difference is.

Gregory Miwok 18

The broad part of the man's shoulder straps are slightly wider and about 3 inches longer so that they don't fit as well over a woman's chest, although I like the feel of the man's waistband better, since it doesn't ride up as high as the woman's and sits more at what I consider my waist.  I'm surprised that Gregory doesn't give the option of being able to lengthen the pack like the Osprey Tempest does since Gregory does offer that feature on their larger packs.

Gregory Miwok 18
in Tropic Orange

Fortunately my MacBook Air laptop fits into the Maya 16 ok, although I don't have plans to take it on this trip.  I'll write down my blog entries in a couple of little moleskine notebooks and then type them up when I get home.  Maybe I'll just learn to live with a smaller pack and make Fernando carry the lunches, the ibuprofen, the first aid kit, the compass, the tissues, the pocket knife, and the thousand other miscellaneous items that usually fit into the woman's purse.  Unless, that is, I decide to order a Miwok 18 in Tropic Orange...

Packing List for the Camino

I'm looking around for my packing list from 2007.  I'm sure I made one...  It isn't on the blog and it wouldn't be on my laptop since I didn't get that until 2011 when we went to Paris.  I can't find it on my big mac either so I dug out my plastic ziplock bag of moleskine journals, memorabilia, and receipts in the hopes that maybe I would have jotted it down there.  You'd think that I would at least have taken a photo of the backpack with its contents like every other pilgrim on the Camino has done.

Let's see if I can recreate the list of items from memory and photos.  We won't  be taking the lightweight 1 pound sleeping bag and the microfiber towel this time since we'll be staying in hotels and not albergues.  The following things worked pretty well in 2007 so I'll probably take the same stuff.

2 quick dry polyester T-shirts (which I still have)
1 long sleeve Ex-Officio polyester shirt (ditto)
1 pair REI terracotta hiking pants (ditto)
1 pair khaki hiking pants (which I still have but don't fit into -- yet)
1 REI fleece jacket (which I still have)
1 Sierra Designs windbreaker/rain jacket (ditto)
1 lightweight fleece pullover and 1 lightweight fleece pants - for sleeping in albergues
3 pairs nylon underpants (I use them as washcloths to wash them but, no, these won't be the ones from 2007.)
2 bras
3 pairs wool socks
2 pairs sock liners
1 pair Lowa hiking boots (the 2007 ones)
1 pair Keen shoes (I've gone through that pair and many others) - which I'll replace with Keen sandals.
1 purse (which I still have somewhere but I'll take a smaller one)
1 rabbitwool sun hat (which I still have but it has shrunk)
1 pair sunglasses
Several moleskine tiny journals for writing down the day's events.

So, does my list look like this photo?  This time I better post one here.

Fernando is discouraging me from taking the laptop and I suppose he is right: the point of the Camino is to disconnect from everyday life.  Ahhh...but we will still have our iPhones and most hotels we are staying in have wifi.  On the other hand, we are walking short days and will have a lot of time on our hands at the casas rurales that are out in the middle of nowhere.

Last time I also took a bunch of stuff for blisters that we never used.  So I will wait until they develop and pick up something at the local pharmacy.  The hotels/guest houses we will be staying in might provide us with shampoo but I'm not sure they'll have hairdryers.  My hair will just have to be what it is, or maybe I can get a "Buff" to cover it up, which seems to be all the rage with the Europeans.  The Buff was developed by a Spaniard for riding motorcycles on the backroads of Catalonia so perhaps I can pick up one in Leon or Sarria.

For more Camino packing tips, check out the "See You Soon, Mom" video on Youtube.

Returning from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid

We should try to book this before we go so we are sure to get back to Madrid on May 13th, in time for our flight home on the 14th.  RailEurope.com doesn't let you book trips in Spain more than 60 days in advance.  RyanAir quotes us a price of 25.29 euros and has flights at 8:15 and 22:20, neither times the best, although the 8:15 am flight is cheaper at 22.61 euros, paid with a debit card or 23.11 with a credit card.  It says that the fare is 10.99€ and the Spanish airport taxes are 11.62€.  Iberia charges $174 so it's not in the running.

I'd actually prefer the train or bus so I could see the countryside and have the time to decompress before flying over what we walked in 2 seconds.  However, I was looking at the bus schedule at ALSA and all the trips take 8-10 hours!!  It goes up to Coruna and has 20 stops so scratch that!  But there are 7 buses a day so in case another form of transportation gets cancelled hopefully we could still take the bus.

There are three trains to Madrid from Santiago, one at 9:05am, one at 5:05pm and then an overnight trenhotel that leaves at 10:33 pm and gets into Madrid at 8:02.  The day trains take about 6 hours so we'd take the earlier one at 9:05am and arrive at 2:56pm.  At 54.20 € it's more than RyanAir but we'd get to see the countryside.  It looks like we will have to think about this.

More Blogs on Sarria to Santiago

I'll use this posting as a place to store other pilgrims' postings on our section since I can never remember where I read or saw what and I often can't get back to what I've seen before.

Sarria to Ferreiros

The Huffington Post had an article on the Camino last year: "4 Things You Should Know Before Hiking Spain's Camino Trail" and linked to a blog by a woman from Mariposa, California.  Sarria to Ferreiros was her day 42 so she was more seasoned than we will be.  But her photos from June undoubtedly portray what we will experience a month before in May, including the terrain, the rain and overcast skies.  Fortunately she has an index to her 47 daily posts by stage.  Her are the ones that pertain to us (after Ferreiros).  The photos are hers.

Santiago de Compostela

1. Ferreiros to Ventas de Naron (22.4 km)
2. Ventas de Naron to Melide (26.2 km)
3. Melide to Arzua (14.3 km)
4. Arzua to Pedrouzo 
5. Pedrouzo to Santiago (20 km)

The author of the blog also got tired of colorless and monotonous food, like the dishes in this photo she took.

Ah well, I suppose anything tastes good after a day of walking.  We will be sure to fully document our diet on the road.  I might be eating a lot of ensaladas mixtas, until I get sick of canned tuna...